It’s been an entire calendar year since the USA began lockdown to eradicate COVID-19.
Over 500,000 in the USA dead from a virus because we couldn’t care about people over profits.
What have we learned?
We’ve seen an awful lot of uncaring people who fight mask mandates and argue with store employees.
We’ve seen retail stores and restaurants struggle to remain open. Some do a better job than others following recommended CDC guidelines, protecting their employees and customers.
We’ve see the breakdown of government leadership with an insurrection and failed coup.
We’ve seen local leaders torn between maintaining curfews and reopening the economy.
We’ve seen greedy corporations and wealthy individuals demanding more, more, more while so many are without the assistance they need to survive. Deregulation, privatization, and government bailouts make the rich richer.
We have seen vast discrepancies between the rich and poor, white and BIPOC, liberal and conservative, young and old.
We’ve seen our youth turn into zombies before the screen with so many hours of Zoom schooling. We have seen disparity with schooling for children of color and different socio-economic classes. What are we gonna do about it?
We’re in a housing crisis as so many are laid off and unable to work and therefore unable to pay rent.
Massive financial debt paralyzes a great percentage of our “first world” population – as poverty rates climb everywhere and there is no aid or end in sight.
Who are essential workers and why don’t we value them?
Climate chaos is here – vast fires and extreme cold and bizarre weather patterns.
The vaccine rollout is just a mess.
But go on, insensitive people, sure, go on that fancy vacation to imperil more lives who are dependent on your tourist dollars and have little choice but to serve you.
We have at this moment the chance to change our trajectory.
I am so thankful that my husband, eldest child, and I were able to be vaccinated.
My husband works in the WPAFB epidemiology lab. My daughter is a care worker for disabled adults. I was scheduled because I am a teacher. We file as an 08 school in Ohio and I received a message from the county that I qualified.
Our family has not dined in a restaurant in over a year. I haven’t gotten my hair done in over a year.
When did we stop caring about our neighbors?
Is it the rise of social media that gives us a false sense of community while erasing real empathy?
Why are politicians and those brainwashed by the “news” so concerned with avoiding socialism while maintaining American evangelicalism, racism, sexism, and capitalism, widening the vast abyss separating the haves with the have-nots?
We have seen how broken our health care system is and how so many people suffer trying to juggle their physical and mental health with keeping their jobs and paying rent. We can afford to care for people properly.
We now know how many jobs can be done virtually. We can abolish the rat race of 40+ hours a week. We can prioritize rest and relationships over profit. Will we do this?
What is the cult of self-care anyway? It’s doing all the unnoticed, tiny, deliberate, thankless tasks that keep us from falling downward into the spiral.
Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.
Brianna Wiest
If you’re thinking that the pandemic hasn’t really affected you and your family, then you’re not thinking far enough ahead nor about the bigger picture.
What is the effect this year of isolation will have on our children? And I’m not saying that our kids are gonna be behind in school. The psychological effects of watching our world burn this last year will be long-lasting.
What is the cost of a year without friends? Most of my kids’ acquaintances continued socializing all through this last year, oblivious to CDC guidelines. We are left behind, forgotten, dismissed. It will be difficult to reintegrate socially and do we even want to – with such callous people?
All the togetherness is trying for some families who are used to going their separate ways every morning – to day care, school, work. Our lifestyle hasn’t greatly changed. We’ve seen lots of complaining and comments from many families online. The lockdown provided children and parents time to learn they like one another. Or not. We have seen some issues with families who have to learn how to actually live together.
Why are so many yearning to “go back to normal” when it’s so obvious that normal isn’t working?
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- Klara and the Sun
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It is such a hard time in so many ways, isn’t it?
But it’s also good. (Not COVID, not the deaths — believe me I know as my husband is a nurse and paramedic and he sees it daily.)
But God still brings good.
I have had time with my teens I would not have had otherwise (we opted to keep them distance learning even though the district went back. It has been hard, and I can relate to your left out feelings!) But it is also a gift.
I am not minimizing any of the hard things. But when I breathe in and out, when I really stop and think about this I can find good things in the middle of all the hard. We can find love. We can find grace. We can find God.
I love this. And yes, I do see how some of this past year is a gift for us.
There are many hard things that have come from this pandemic and the lockdown, Jennifer. I appreciate your encouragement to find ways to address the needs and not get our vaccine and go our merry way! Thanks for this “shot in the arm”–reminding us to give, care, and help wherever we can!
Things have changed. We have changed. And like you said, I don’t think things will just pick up and go back to normal. We all have choices in the coming days and months. let us think about others and make good choices.
There is definitely much to lament about this past year. So much has changed, but God never does. Thanks for sharing so candidly!
It’s been quite a ride.
This post totally resonates with me, Jennifer. I have asked myself the same questions many times. I would like to include the science deniers as a huge part of the problems. Mix that with those who have no empathy, and it is a recipe for disaster. Great post!
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com